


A Gentle Awakening

by jemionis travels (Jemixe712)



Series: 2018 Stony Fairy Tale Bingo [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Civil War Fix-It, Curses, Fairy Tale Bingo, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fluff, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Romance, Snow White retelling, an attempt to fix it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 01:02:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14093592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemixe712/pseuds/jemionis%20travels
Summary: Cap-Ironman Fairy Tale Bingo fill for Snow White. Someone keeps trying to kill Tony and it isn't until Stephen Strange realizes that it follows the fairy tale Snow White that Tony realizes this may be cause for concern. The Avengers try to keep Tony safe from eating a poison apple, but when that fails, will true love's kiss really be able to wake Tony up?





	A Gentle Awakening

Tony woke up in the med bay of the compound with no memory of what happened. He looked around, ignoring the beep beep of the heart monitor and saw Rhodey sitting in the chair, reading Popular Mechanics, since his leg braces were featured in them, and Rhodey was the centerfold. 

“Good evening, Princess.”

Tony was still groggy, but he not so much that he knew Rhodey calling him princess was weird and unusual. 

“You’ve been unconscious for about 16 hours. You were almost suffocated by a vest. We almost didn’t get to you in time.”

“What the hell happened?” Tony tried to sit up, but Rhodey dropped the magazine and pressed his hand on Tony’s shoulder to prevent that from happening.

“Your tailor rushed out like a bat out of hell, yelling about how the vest was possessed and wouldn’t stop squeezing you. By the time I got into the room, you were passed out, wheezing like a fish on land.”

“Did you read a book on metaphors? Just leave out the prose and tell me what happened.”

With a small smile, since he did notice Tony try to suppress his own, Rhodey continued. “So, you’re wheezing and finally pass out, but the vest isn’t coming off. I tried untying it, unbuttoning it, tugging and pulling it, but that thing was glued to you. FRIDAY must have alerted the others because Thor, Wanda, and Vision come barrelling in.”

Tony tensed a bit at that, even after the others came back, there was still a lot of tension among the different members of the Avengers. Most especially between him and Steve. 

“Thor tried to wrestle the vest off, but everytime he muscled against the fabric, it tightened. It took Wanda putting it in some sort of stasis the stopped it from tightening. Even still, we had to rush you to the med bay because the vest cracked a few of your ribs.”

Tony wrapped an arm around his middle, it seemed at mentioning the injuries, the hurt flared to life. The doctors and nurses who worked the med bay knew not to give him morphine unless Rhodey himself deemed it necessary. He must not have this time since Tony felt it everytime he breathed. 

“So, how did you guys get the vest off?”

Rhodey handed Tony the remote to elevate the bed so he could sit up, handing Tony a glass of water when he was settled.

“That’s what was odd. The vest didn’t come off until Thor, Vision, Wanda, Sam, Bruce, Barnes, and I were all present. Then, it kind of just came apart at the seams and lay there. Bruce took the vest and went to deliver it to Doctor Strange so he could analyze it. Unless you put nanites in the vest and they got out of hand?”

Tony was already shaking his head, “No, no nanites from me. I hate magic and this seems like magic.”

“Right, well, you’re here for a few more hours, and I will, emphasis on will, sit on you to make sure that happens. Until then, we don’t have any leads on why you were attacked by a vest. Your tailor’s been cleared and seemed just as shocked anyone on why he had murderous vests.”

“Alright Sourpatch, I’ll be good and stay put.”

Rhodey patted Tony’s arm and sat back down, “Good, and think of people who would want to hurt you and know magic.”

Tony glared at Rhodey, “A lot of people don’t like me, and I only know like, 3 people who do magic. And they wouldn’t do this to me, even if they didn’t like me.”

Rhodey looked as frustrated as Tony felt, because it was true. Tony had a lot of enemies, and even if there were some he didn’t know about who knew magic, that didn’t mean that the ones he did know about couldn’t go out and find a magic user to work for them. 

“Maybe Strange will have some information, or the tailor may have some about that vest? History of the fabric, where it was made, anything. Until then, just get some rest so you can heal. We’ll figure this out, Tones.”

Tony put the incident out of his mind completely after his ribs healed. Doctor Strange had come back saying there were magical properties on the vest but he didn’t recognize the signature attached, but he would keep an eye out. Tony’s tailor, who he had been with for half of his life, had no idea where the vest came from, just that when he saw it he knew it was perfect for Tony. 

He was still trying to get a feel for working with the other Avengers again. He recognized it would never be the same as it was before, but he was hoping that they have all learned and grown and so things could be better. He struck a tentative truce with Barnes by virtue of acknowledging that his response, while understandable in the circumstances, was not necessarily the most healthy way of dealing with things. And Barnes nodded and said he understood and was willing to work with the mental health professionals Tony had told Steve about during the Accords fiasco. He legit used the word fiasco, which actually upped him in Tony’s estimation. 

It was Steve that Tony was still having issues with. Issues in that, Steve seemed to be gone a lot, or at least, avoiding Tony. He felt there were huge mistakes on both sides of the media dubbed, Civil War, and wanted to do the adult thing and talk it out with Cap. Well, Pepper pointed out to him that he should do the adult thing and talk it out with Cap, especially since he intended to work with the guy, and since he’d pretty much buried the proverbial hatchet with Barnes. 

What precipitated Pepper’s need to step in and point out a few truths to Tony were some happenings between him and Steve before the Civil War, which prevented Tony from wanting to take that first step at reconciliation. After Tony and Pepper had broken up, he and Steve had gotten closer, without it tipping over into actual...more. Rather, their relationship was romantic but more fraught with potential. It always seemed to be one remark, or one action away from tipping over from the world of what if. Then the Accords happened, then Vienna, then Berlin, then Siberia. 

And now, back to upstate New York where they were all getting back in the swing of things and preparing for the next big threat. Bucky had his new Wakandan arm and trigger free brain, Wanda and Vision were dancing around each other again, Tony had given Steve back his shield. But, it wasn’t how it was before, instead they were acting the parts someone told them to in order to make it seem like it was before. They were a facsimile, not the original. 

Their interactions were stilted, especially Steve and Tony. 

One evening in the community kitchen, Steve walked in and saw Tony already at the dining table.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were up as well.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would have known, unless you have a map of where everyone is, or unless you asked FRIDAY.”

“I’ll just get my snack and leave.” Steve hadn’t looked at Tony since he originally saw him in the kitchen.

“You don’t have to leave on my account, Cap. Stay and eat your snack.”

On that occasion, while Steve did stay, the silence in the kitchen was awkward and tense until Bruce walked in and started talking about the latest paper he was reading.

On another occasion, Tony walked into the community lounge in the middle of the night, mind focused on a speech he was set to deliver at a convention when he heard a sound, the squeak of the couch.

Tony whirled around and saw Steve, sitting in the dark and staring out of the window. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Tony.”

“No, not a problem, I wasn’t paying attention. I’ll be gone soon, just wanted to get a drink. I’ll leave you to your brooding in the dark in peace.”

Steve didn’t respond for the longest time, but did eventually say, “No, you can stay. I don’t mean to run you out of your own home, Tony.”

When Tony settled on the chair adjacent to the couch Steve was sitting on, drink in hand, he didn’t know what to say. He knew he should talk, he and Steve still had some issues to settle and this was the perfect opportunity to start. But Tony’s mind just blanked out. 

“Listen --”

“I want to --” 

The two both started talking at the same time before just sort of stuttering to a stop. 

“You go first, Tony.”

Tony took a sip of the grapefruit juice he had and tried to figure out what exactly it was he wanted to say. He still hadn’t wrapped his head around it when Sam and Wanda came in. Apparently no one could sleep right now. Tony never figured out what he would have said, nor what Steve would have said, and they weren’t able to get the moment back. 

Instead of trying to work things out with his team, he had to return to New York City and was in the lobby of Stark Industries instead of in the R&D labs because there was a package with his name on it which just seemed to magically appear. The security wasn’t stupid, the package was x-rayed and tested to make sure it wasn’t a bomb or a weapon. 

When it passed those tests, Tony opened it. Inside was a beard and mustache comb. It was beautiful and looked to be made from jade. There was a dragon design on it, and the teeth of the comb were slender but strong. Tony was entranced by it and almost without thought, he brought it up to his face and started combing his beard. 

The beeping of the heart monitor woke Tony up, again. The smell of a sterile hospital room assaulted his nose and the sound of clothes ruffling caught his ear. This time, it was Natasha who was sitting in the chair, kind of staring Tony down instead of reading a magazine about cutting edge technology. 

“So, what was it this time?”

“Poison, which is why I was called in. The jade comb you were gifted was poisoned. You collapsed in the lobby, which freaked out approximately everyone who was present. Vision brought you upstairs to the medical area of the tower. You wouldn’t wake up, even when the comb was removed. That’s when I was called in, to try and figure out what poison was used.”

Tony managed to sit up and gratefully took the water Natasha held out for him. 

“So, what poison was it?”

“No clue. It wasn’t any I’d come across, nor did it appear to be anything the mass spectrometer could figure out either. We deemed it prudent to send the comb to Doctor Strange since we concluded it was likely magic. So, what magician or sorcerer did you piss off recently?”

There was something about this that was familiar trying to make itself known to Tony, but Natasha’s question distracted him. However, that was when Rhodey walked in.

“You were out for 3 days because that’s how long it took is to get everyone here. It was only when Thor, Vision, Wanda, Sam, Bruce, Barnes, and I were present, again, that we were able to wake you up.”

“Why you seven though?” Natasha looked between Rhodey and Tony. Thing between the three of them were still stiff as well, which was saying something because Rhodey was holding a grudge, which rarely happened. 

“Snow White.” The three turned to the door and saw Steve there. 

“I don’t remember this happening in the movie.” Rhodey moved over to stand next to Tony as he spoke. He hadn’t completely forgiven Steve for how things went down either. It was a tense hospital room. 

“Sugarsnap, the original story, not the Disney version, Snow White was visited by the witch multiple times. The first she was almost killed by a killer bodice, the second by a poisoned comb. The third is when she’s almost taken out by the apple and woken by true love’s kiss. You guys must be taking the place of the seven dwarves. But this still doesn’t clear anything up, namely who’s doing this? Who is the wicked witch in this fairy tale?”

“Until we can figure this out, it may be best for you to stay at the compound full time. If it seems you need Thor, Vision, Wanda, Sam, Bruce, Bucky, and Colonel Rhodes present, it would be better for everyone to be in one spot. The rest of us will meet with Strange and see if we can figure out who’s behind this.”

Without waiting for a response, Steve left after giving his orders. The other three stayed silent, awkward silence, until Rhodey spoke, “I’m not gonna be fucking Dopey. I’m Doc.”

“Psh, whatever, Bruce is Doc. You’re Grumpy.”

Natasha left them arguing about which dwarf Rhodey would be.

 

“If I’m Snow White in this messed up fairy tale, does that mean I’m the fairest in the land?”

Tony was lounging on the couch because he couldn’t open any packages no one knew the origins of, he couldn’t touch anything that wasn’t vetted, he couldn’t eat any apples. He was one step away from being locked in a tower, only that was the wrong fairy tale. Also, he was never alone! Thor, Vision, Wanda, Sam, Bruce, Barnes, or Rhodey were always with him. He’d taken to hanging out in his bathroom for long periods of time because at least then he’d have some privacy!

Tony went to sleep after hearing there was still no news on who could be behind the fairy tale inspired attacks against him. He found himself walking through a forest to a small cottage. It looked well lived in. He walked inside and saw seven small stools at a table with seven bowls and seven cups. He walked into a bedroom and there were seven small beds. In fact, there seemed to be seven of everything in the cottage. 

“You should be dead.”

Tony turned and saw someone wearing a long cloak with the hood up.

“You’re taking the wicked witch aesthetic a little far. Who are you?”

“You should be dead. If you were, then I’d be the one everyone would know.”

“What? You’re doing all this because you’re jealous of me? What the actual…I have no clue who you are!”

The other person didn’t say anything, just pointed to the table. On the table was the reddest, biggest, most delicious looking apple Tony had ever seen. He knew he shouldn’t be reaching for it, but he couldn’t help it. It was like he was outside of his body, watching as his hand grabbed the apple and brought it to his mouth. He took a bite, then fell over, the last sounds he heard were the apple hitting the floor and laughter. 

 

Most of the Avengers, old and new, all tried to fit into the medical room Tony was in. He was hooked up to different machines, indicators for respiration, heartbeat, brain activity, all whirring away. 

“How did this happen? We were careful to keep anything away from him that could have been disguised as an apple.”

A portal opened into the room and out stepped Doctor Strange, cloak billowing behind him even though there was no wind. 

“I’ve found the person behind the magic, though not the person who is after Tony. One thing we all forgot to take into consideration was the dream realm, or the astral plane. That is how Tony was attacked.”

While the Avengers looked relieved at that, it was short lived. 

“There is a way to fix this. With fairy tale inspired spells, it is mandatory they have the clause to fix things, or put things back to right. It’s magical law. So, what needs to happen is to just finish out the story, and Tony will awaken.”

It was Bruce who spoke up, “The rest of the story is that the dwarves think Snow White is dead, and put her in a glass coffin. Then a prince wanders by and sees her and is so overcome with her beauty, that he kisses her and she wakes up. To the best of my knowledge, there is no prince or princess, that Tony is dating.”

Strange shook his head, “It isn’t a prince or princess literally, the important part is the love part. True love, often seen by many in the magical community, as the greatest gift and something that can be unimaginably powerful.”

Rhodey was already shaking his head, pointedly not looking at anyone in the room, just Tony. “He isn’t with anyone. He hasn’t been since he and Pepper broke up.”

Strange waved his hand, dismissing the words, “It doesn’t matter if he was with someone or not. This is true love, and it’s that true love who needs to kiss him.”

“How are we supposed to do that? There are seven and a half billion people on earth! We can’t possibly get all of them here to kiss him!”

Stephen Strange sighed and leveled an unimpressed look at the team, “Start here. Statistically speaking, it’s likely it’s someone nearby, who he associates with frequently. The spell is supposed to be difficult and annoying, but not impossible to break. Just, get over whatever it is that’s going on with the team. If you want to save Iron Man, just get over it.”

As if to prove a point, Strange walked over and laid a brief kiss on Tony. When nothing happened, he didn’t look surprised, just glared at the Avengers, then stood back in the corner of the room and crossed his arms after making a get on with it motion. 

One by one, the Avengers all kissed Tony, some more grudgingly than others. But ultimately, no one wanted Tony to remain in stasis or die. 

Bruce stepped back from his kiss and when there was still no change in Tony, glared at Doctor Strange. 

“Not everyone is here. Look, you know Tony well enough. Get his friends or people he works with. If you want to save him, this is it. The spell used can’t just be broken, it has to be fulfilled. If they need to be transported, just let me know, since time is of the essence. This is a Snow White spell, not a Sleeping Beauty one. That means, Tony’s body will die since the last part of the fairy tale included a poison apple. You may be able to stretch out the time with medicine and science, but the curse will come true, and Tony will die of poison. I wouldn’t leave it more than three days, since three is a powerful number in spells and curses, and fairy tales.” 

With those parting words, Doctor Strange left through a portal. 

“Who isn’t here?”

Bruce looked around and saw Rhodey, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Sam, and Thor. They were still missing a good number of Avengers. 

“Put out an alert and let everyone know what’s going on. Looks like everyone is going to kiss Tony. No exceptions. Let’s make sure the team doesn’t work before we start getting others involved.”

 

“It’s been two days and Tony’s vitals are getting worse, and none of the people who kissed him have been able to wake him up.”

Rhodey and Natasha were in the room with Tony. He looked pale compared to before. 

“Steve and James haven’t kissed him yet.” Natasha gave Rhodey’s shoulder a squeeze, “I’ll go look for them. You stay with Tony.”

Rhodey nodded as she left, then went to sit in the chair next to the bed. He barely reacted when another person joined him, leaning against him. He did look briefly and saw Pepper and Happy in the room. Rhodey took the coffee Happy handed him, then went back to watching, and worrying about Tony. 

 

“I know why I haven’t kissed Stark yet, what’s your excuse?”

Steve was outside in the back of the compound when Bucky joined him. He didn’t answer immediately. 

“Steve, the others are thinking you don’t want Stark to get better.”

“No!” Steve’s denial was immediate and loud, it startled a few birds. “That’s not it.”

Steve sighed and turned to face Bucky and the compound before he continued, “Before the Civil War, it seemed like Tony and I were getting closer. He’d broken up with Pepper, but I was waiting until a more appropriate time to approach him. But, we were flirting and it was nice. I thought...I don’t really know what I thought, but I knew I wanted to try with him. But then…”

Steve trailed off on a deep exhale and Bucky continued, “Then Siberia and Wakanda, and now you’re back. And you think your chances are ruined to be with Tony.”

“I’ve tried talking to him, but we’ve always been interrupted or I didn’t know what to say.”

Bucky nodded along sympathetically then said, “Well, you're still dumb when it comes to who you’re sweet on.”

Steve sputtered and glared at Bucky, “What the hell!?”

“No Steve, you’re dumb and so’s Stark. Look, I have seen the way he looks at you when he thinks you’re not looking. And trust me, those looks were not from someone who hated you, or who didn’t want to work things out. You both may have work to do, but if you both really want to give things a go between the two of you, then do it.”

“Buck, it can’t be that simple. There is a lot of history and hurt between us.”

Bucky made an annoyed noise, “I kinda wanna smack you upside your head. I’ll make it simple. Tony is in a magic induced coma that he will die from and you haven’t kissed him yet cuz you’re scared. You can either kiss him and take the chance that he’ll wake up, giving you guys a chance to actually talk and communicate and shit and have your happily ever after. Or, you can sit out here on your ass, not kiss him, he dies for sure, and then you’re left wondering with what if and regrets.”

Steve still didn’t move but he looked pretty indecisive. Still, Bucky grunted and threw his hands up. “I’m going to go take my chance because I actually do want Stark to wake up. I’d definitely take the chance if it came to true love. You can stay here and be miserable.”

Bucky left, ignoring Natasha leaning against the compound’s wall.

“Weren’t you the one who once told someone to take a chance? Don’t you think you and Tony deserve to be happy, and you both deserve the chance to find out if that can happen together?”

With her piece said, Natasha left. 

 

Rhodey hadn’t moved from the chair except for small bathroom breaks and to stretch and exercise his legs; something he needed to do even with the braces. It was closing in on evening of the third day and Tony was looking worse. They brought in more people who were willing to kiss Tony to try and wake him up. Rhodey did notice one glaring absence though. He knew about Tony’s feelings for Steve, about how they were dancing around each other before the business with the Accords. It was why Rhodey still found it hard to forgive Steve for the mess that went down in Siberia. 

It wasn’t the Accords Rhodey couldn’t forgive, because Steve was doing what he thought was right and what he believed in. It wasn’t even the burn and salt the earth approach he took when it came to defending his best friends Barnes. Rhodey knew what he’d do if Tony was in trouble and it was very similar, since he’d torn up the deserts of Afghanistan looking for the man. No, it was the fact Steve hid something from Tony that was so important, and the reasons why were flimsy at best. But, Tony forgave Steve, so Rhodey was willing to at least act amicable towards the man. That would change if Steve didn’t try and wake Tony up. Tony didn’t hold grudges, but Rhodey kept lists on lists of wrongs done to Tony. He especially kept track of the wrongs Tony did to himself. 

Rhodey jumped when the door slammed open and Steve Rogers marched into the room like he was facing the Red Skull and an army of Hydra agents himself. He marched to Tony’s bed where he paused for a second. Rhodey watched him reach a hand out and comb his fingers through Tony’s hair before cupping his cheek. 

Rhodey refused to look away when he leaned down and brushed his lips against Tony’s. He felt a little like a voyeur when he watched Steve deepen the kiss, but Rhodey didn’t look away. He felt he owed it to Tony to either watch him wake up, or watch as hope was lost. 

The beep of the heart monitors sped up causing Rhodey to whip his head towards them. When he realized what the meant, he turned back to face Tony and Steve. Steve was half on the bed, leaning over Tony, who had one hand curled behind Steve’s neck, holding him in place. 

The heart monitor was hooked to an alarm to let everyone know if it changed, so all the other Avengers came running into the room. The ones who could fit inside paused and took in the scene. No one seemed overly surprised. In fact, Rhodey was sure he heard a number of different people mumble “About time!”

When Steve and Tony finally separated, they didn’t go far, keeping their attention on each other. Rhodey wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t notice the others in the room. He was torn between letting them be and separating them to make sure his best friend was alright. Bruce took the decision out of his hands. 

“Okay, let me check on Tony until someone contacts Doctor Strange to make sure the curse is gone. Then you guys can go back to looking all starry eyed at each other.”

Rhodey saw Tony smile and watched an answering one appear on Steve’s face. The two had a lot to talk out, and they still had to find the person originally behind the attacks, but if this curse did nothing else, it did show them that they had a chance to do so. It was true love after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Snow White was never really my favorite fairy tale, but this was interesting. I took some of the Disney aspects as well as from the original fairy tale aspects and put it in this. This is also my (bad) attempt at a brief Civil War fix-it without going too in depth. 
> 
> Please leave a kudos or a comment, as I love positive reinforcement. Or hit me up on tumblr at  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jemionis-travels


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